Release from prison granted for three

Defendants all scheduled to go to STAR program by year’s end

Bryce Ballein is shown on a monitor during a video hearing from prison. Judge Rocky Coss and Prosecutor Anneka Collins can also be seen in the box in the upper right corner.

Three defendants were granted judicial release on Friday, with all appearing via video hearings from their respective institutions of imprisonment.

Bryce D. Ballein, 23, Hillsboro, was sentenced in February to a total of 30 months in prison on two cases, one charging third-degree felony illegal assembly or possession of chemicals for the manufacture of drugs, and the other charging fourth-degree felony aggravated drug trafficking.

While Highland County Common Pleas Court Judge Rocky Coss granted him judicial release to the STAR program, Coss said his release was pending a decision by the common pleas court in Clinton County, as Ballein was recently sentenced in that court to 18 months in prison on a drug trafficking charge to run concurrent to the Highland County sentences.

Right now, Ballein is scheduled be released to the STAR program in December. Coss said that if Clinton County doesn’t agree to release Ballein early, his decision on Friday would “have no effect,” and Ballein would remain in prison.

According to the Clinton County records, Ballein was just sentenced on Monday.

Also released to the STAR program from prison was Roger E. Sowers, 46, Greenfield.

He was sentenced to a total of 36 months in prison last November on two illegal assembly charges, both third-degree felonies.

He is scheduled to be released to the residential treatment facility next month.

Sherry Elaine Fryman, 36, Hillsboro, is scheduled to be released to STAR in December.

About a year ago, Fryman pled guilty to third-degree felony illegal assembly and was sentenced to two years in prison.

All three defendants will be under three years of community control sanctions once they are released.

Bryce Ballein is shown on a monitor during a video hearing from prison. Judge Rocky Coss and Prosecutor Anneka Collins can also be seen in the box in the upper right corner.

http://aimmedianetwork.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/33/2015/10/web1_BalleinJudRel.jpgBryce Ballein is shown on a monitor during a video hearing from prison. Judge Rocky Coss and Prosecutor Anneka Collins can also be seen in the box in the upper right corner.